Writing with AI is often misunderstood and unfairly stigmatized in academic settings. While blind copy-pasting of AI-generated content is indeed problematic, the thoughtful integration of AI tools into the writing process offers significant benefits for learning, creativity, and productivity.
In this article, I reflect on how to do good writing with AI.
Writing with AI
Writing with AI means using artificial intelligence tools as collaborative partners during the writing process. Rather than replacing the writer, these tools serve as interactive assistants that help brainstorm, draft, revise, and polish text while the human remains in charge of the ideas and final decisions.
Concrete examples of AI tools for writing include:
- Chat-based assistants (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini): You engage in a conversation to explore ideas, request alternative phrasings, or ask for feedback on a draft. This is super easy, there no set up.
- Inline writing assistants (GitHub Copilot for text, Grammarly): These tools offer suggestions where you type, helping with grammar, style, and completion. This requires to spend a bit of time in installing and configuring the writing software.
- AI-integrated editors (Notion AI, Overleaf with AI features): These embed AI capabilities directly into the document editing environment, allowing you to rewrite paragraphs, summarize sections, or adjust tone without leaving your workflow.
The Key Distinction: We emphasize that writing with AI is NOT blind generation (prompting AI to write entire texts without critical engagement). I actually mean co-writing with AI: using AI as an interactive tool to enhance your own thinking and writing
Positive Effects of Writing with AI
Enhanced Learning Through Iteration
AI assists in refining ideas through multiple drafts. Each interaction forces you to articulate what works and what doesn’t, deepening your understanding of the subject matter. You drive and the AI follows. You remain in control, making decisions about direction, tone, and content while the AI responds to your guidance.
Improved Clarity and Style
AI can highlight unclear passages and suggest more precise language, resulting in better text. More importantly, it teaches you better writing practices through example.
Accessibility and Democratization
For non-native speakers or students with learning differences, AI provides scaffolding that levels the playing field without diminishing their own intellectual contribution.
Writing is thinking
That being said, don’t forget that writing is not just the production of text, it’s the production of thoughts.
Writing is a way of thinking itself. As you struggle to find the right words and organize ideas, you actively develop your understanding. You often discover what you really mean through the act of writing, not before it.
When you use AI to draft text, you shift from generating to evaluating. This matters because generation forces you to muddle through alternatives and surface new connections, while evaluation simply asks if something is “good enough.”.
Hence, writing without AI has fundamental value. The struggle to articulate ideas from scratch forces deeper cognitive engagement and surfaces novel connections that guided evaluation might never discover. This deliberate difficulty is not masochism; it’s the training ground where original thinking emerges and brains is heavily exercised. Like the Spartans training in harsh conditions.
The Core Principle
Think of writing with AI as riding a horse. The horse provides power and momentum, but the rider determines the direction, pace, and destination. A skilled rider doesn’t simply sit passively, they guide, correct, and make countless micro-decisions throughout the journey. Similarly, effective AI-assisted writing requires you to steer the process, evaluate suggestions critically, and shape the final output according to your vision and judgment.
The value of writing with AI lies in the critical thinking, judgment, and revision you apply throughout the process. Writing with AI, when done right, makes you a better writer and thinker.